Birding

Best Bird of the Weekend (Third of June 2014)

June 16, 2014 by Mike 4 Comments

Is it mere coincidence that Father’s Day falls on such a perfect weekend for birding? I think not.

I took my brood to explore Chimney Bluffs State Park, where we explored a glacier-carved landscape unlike any I’ve seen in New York State. I was pleasantly surprised at the prevalence of American Redstarts in those woods. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend isn’t rare, difficult to see, or worthy of such a status by any other typical metric. But while one a whale-watching trip with his family on Saturday and seeing only Herring Gulls at the back of the boat for a good half-hour, he heard Desi, his four-and-a-half-year-old son, pipe up with “There’s a Laughing Gull! I know it because it has a black head!” That Laughing Gull, seen above, is far and away Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend, especially on a weekend that includes Father’s Day!

How about you? What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.

best bird weekend

Written by Mike

Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.

4 Comments

Meredith Matthews June 16, 2014 at 11:44 am
Hmm … heard (but didn’t see) my FOY Eastern Phoebe, and saw (but didn’t hear) my FOY White-breasted Nuthatch (both in Wickahisson Valley Park, Philadelphia). So … tie?
Wendy Feltham June 16, 2014 at 12:12 pm
I saw the first three Heermann’s Gulls of the summer. These beautiful gulls with gray backs, blacks legs, and bright red bills fly up to the Olympic Peninsula all the way from Mexico. Usually I see big flocks looking exhausted after their journey. I hope more are on their way!
Katrina June 16, 2014 at 7:45 pm
I led a walk for our local bird club on Saturday, with the objective of finding breeding grassland birds. The Bobolinks put on a better show than the Grasshopper Sparrows so I’ll go with them as my best birds of the weekend. The Bog Turtle I found beats out all the birds as the best critter of the weekend though.
Bob Nieman July 5, 2014 at 9:58 am
I was backpacking with 19 teenagers (not a one my son) at Philmont Scout Ranch (NM) for 12 days. Despite going to 12,441′, I missed all of my high altitude targets due to excessive wind and the difficulties of birding with a bunch of teenagers. My best bird was a calling Mexican Whip-Poor-Will. This was an eBird life bird, a state bird, the first eBird record for Colfax County as well as the farthest north eBird record in the state and hadn’t been on my radar. If I had to have trouble sleeping, at least I got a new bird!